CEILING FAN REGULATORS

The world is addicted to development. In this century, it is very difficult to imagine our lives without any headway. From basics to luxurious products, we need hundreds and hundreds of explorations and the new-fangled ways to lead a better life.

Today the rule of living defines-

“Out with the old and in with the new”

The same concept is emanated for ceiling fans. Yes, those ceiling fans without which our lives are totally incomplete and tiresome. It’s like creating a milestone in one’s life. Without these fans, how would we even survive? So, it’s quite important to keep our ceiling fans updated with the new styles and features to get the best of everything.

Firstly, what is ceiling fan??

A ceiling fan is a mechanical fan usually powered by electricity from the ceiling of a room that uses hub-mounted rotating paddles to circulate air. It is one of the most casual electrical appliances. And there is a regulator with every ceiling fan to control its speed and efficiency. You might have noticed that older fan regulators (still being used in some homes) are quite bulkier than electronic regulators we are surrounded with. Below are the both types of fan regulators (conventional and electronic) explained.

Regulators

One must be aware of the term resistance to know more about regulators. All devices with the electric conductors let the current pass through them. The regulators come in wire spools which have different resistance amounts and when the knob is set at a certain position, it gets connected in series with the fan.

Conventional fan regulator

Conventional fan regulator is of a resistive type. Old ceiling fan regulators appear like huge rectangular box containing a circular kind of knob on it, cracking out of the switchboard. These are also known as resistive regulators. The box comprises of a wire wound resistor with different taps which is interlinked in the series with the motor of the ceiling fan.

Electronic fan regulator

The technology regulating the speed of a fan is little technical and complex. Nowadays, fan regulators have become a lot more compact than conventional regulators. These Electronic fan regulators are available in sizes as small as a regular electric switch. According to size, electronic regulators are classified as (i) switch type and (ii) socket type. Furthermore, there are two common types of electronic fan regulators: (i) TRIAC based fan regulator and (ii) Capacitive type fan regulator. They differ in various aspects.

Which one is energy efficient?

In conventional regulators, voltage dropout in the resistance is transformed into the heat energy, which states that there is loss of energy and the loss is maximum at this level when the fan is running at minimum speed (as more resistance is interlinked in series more energy is lost into heat). In electronic regulators, TRIAC based circuit is used to control the output voltage which causes very less power loss as compared to that of conventional regulators. Similarly, power loss will also be lower in case of capacitive type regulator as capacitors do not dissipate much of energy in the form of heat.

Conclusion: An electronic regulator is very much energy efficient than a conventional (resistance type) regulator. However, an electronic regulator may not be good for the life of fan. A stepped capacitive type fan regulator is energy efficient as well as more reliable. If you’re planning to buy a ceiling fan for your home, it is always better to opt for a fan with stepped capacitive type regulator. You can even find such fans online on websites like http://atomberg.com/product-ceiling-fan/.